


The Past is In [The Past]

by PompousPickle



Series: Almost Boyfriends [2]
Category: Almost Human
Genre: Dorian's POV for once, M/M, Old boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 22:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompousPickle/pseuds/PompousPickle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian and John talk about the reason Dorian was decommissioned. Except John and Dorian are pretty bad at talking about things that matter so...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Past is In [The Past]

**Author's Note:**

> Another tumblr prompt, which was to discuss the reason Dorian was put out of commissioned and have John comfort him.

When it came down to it, John’s capacity for human emotion was incredible. Dorian saw it all of the time. The way he comforted people in their time of need. The way he talked people through panic and trauma. The way he would throw away everything just to keep people out of danger. Dorian knew the man was capable. Despite being stubborn and irritable, there was a thinking and feeling human being in there, with emotional intelligence in spades.

Yet it still caught Dorian off guard every time.

“Hey,” John said after a long silence. The detective didn’t even take his eyes off of the road, still driving onward as though nothing was different than any other day. “Are you…?”

“I’m fine, John,” Dorian said. He had been prepared to say it. He said it to himself over and over again. “Sometimes people turn out to be different than you thought they were. He did his time. He was brought to justice.” Dorian was conditioned keep his voice calm and collected. He was programmed not to quaver or shake or shout or hiss or cry. It didn’t mean he couldn’t. He just _didn’t._

But John could see through it all.

Dorian had few words to describe what that meant to him.

“He was your _partner_ Dorian,” John bit back, shaking his head slightly, rejecting every part of Dorian’s defenses to remain calm. “You worked with him for years and he tricked you and lied to you the whole time. And now he’s… _loose_ ,” John said, for lack of a better term. Rodney Jones had been out of jail for a few months. Neither of them had known. John didn’t even know the name of Dorian’s old partner until the he tried to contact the DRN again.

“And I’m sure you never have done anything you haven’t regretted,” Dorian quipped quickly, immediately wishing he hadn’t. Still, it needed to be said. And John knew he needed to hear it. “He just wants to see me again. He just wants to talk.”

“He took away four years of your life,” John argued back. “He framed you. Made it looked like you had snapped and they sent you away until they didn’t need you anymore. Now, I’m all for forgiveness and friendship and honoring whatever sick attachment you have for him but-”

“You don’t know the whole story,” Dorian said quickly. His voice was strained, his chest felt like it was heaving, his metal plates churning.

“Because you _never told me.”_ John finally slowed down the car as they made a turn around a block. Dorian then began to realize that they weren’t really going anywhere in particular. They weren’t even doing their normal patrol routine. They were just driving. They were just talking. John was taking then around just so they could talk.

“Rod…Detective Jones didn’t want a synthetic partner anymore. He wanted a human one. Something I’m sure you can sympathize with.”

John only snorted as he wound down a neighborhood road. “Sure. Humans don’t try to tell you that you’re wrong all of the time. Or act like they’re your mother. Or make you public dating files.” John stopped for a moment before glancing over at Dorian. “They also don’t record data of illegal doings. And they’re also easier to kill. I get that Dorian. He wanted you out of the way. Can’t you just be a little _angrier_ that he wasted so much of your life trying to do it?”

“Four years isn’t even a portion of my life, John,” Dorian reminded him.  

He wanted to tell him the truth. He wanted to tell him the whole story. Of the day Jones convinced the Captain that he was volatile, that he would someday snap. He wanted to tell John about the recording, the confession, the moment Dorian admitted that he was in love. About how Jones took that and used it to take Dorian out of the force. About how Jones used him to prove that synthetics with emotions should not be in the Force at all.

But he didn’t want John to worry.

He didn’t want history to repeat itself.

 “Besides, if I hadn’t been out for so long, I would have never worked with you, right?” Dorian did his best to ignore the desperate, searching tone of his own voice.

John only snorted, “Yeah. Lucky me.”

Suddenly, the car stopped moving and the detective finally looked at the DRN, making perfect eye contact. “I can’t tell you what to do,” John finally said. “God knows I try. But…if you want to talk to this guy, fine. Just know that I’m…I’m here okay. You’re my partner and I’m going to be pissed if something happens to you and forces me to work with an MX again.”

Dorian felt off-balance. The way he always did when John made eye-contact like that. Or smiled. Or told Dorian that he was worried about him. He knew he couldn’t say anything. He knew it only made him a threat if he did. He knew his emotions were what landed him in the construction job the first time, and ended up getting him decommissioned. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy John when he acted like this, that he couldn’t record these moments in his mind and play them back over and over, before he went to sleep.

“Thanks, John. That means a lot to me.” Dorian said quietly, too quietly. And of course John would notice. John slid his hand over to rest on Dorian’s, in comfort. It only lasted for a moment, but long enough for Dorian’s touch-sensors to react, to send jolts through his system.

“You can talk to me whenever,” John then said, matching Dorian’s quiet pitch.

And just like that, the moment was gone. John put the car back in drive and went back on the main roads. “Just know that I think this is a terrible idea. And I can’t wait to tell you that I told you so,” John then added, swerving in front of a car in order to make a turn towards McQuade’s. “Come on. The beers are on me.”

“Because I don’t drink? You’re too kind,” Dorian deadpanned. But he could only keep the act up for so long. Because John was smart when it came to emotions. Too smart sometimes. He flashed his synthetic partner a smile before getting out of the car. And Dorian couldn’t help but return it. 


End file.
